How Young Children Think about Relationships: Insights from Research with Dr. Narges Afshordi of the University of Minnesota’s College of Education & Human Development

Long before children can speak and tell us what they know, they are watching us and others and beginning to develop expectations about how people will behave in certain situations. For example, infants who have a secure attachment with their mothers show surprise when a very simple animated video image leaves a smaller, similar image who seems to be crying. They have come to expect that mothers will not just wander off and leave their child alone. Very young children also are learning, through a process called social referencing, who is safe and who is dangerous. And they are making discoveries about who will become friends and what qualities friends show.   Dr. Narges Afshordi, who received her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2018 and is now a post-doc in the U of M’s Institute of Child Development, joins Marti & Erin to discuss these fascinating findings on how very young children work out their understanding of relationships. We think you will be as amazed as Marti & Erin were by what is going on in these young children’s minds.   What surprised you about Dr. Afshordi’s findings about the ways very young children are thinking about relationships? Take some time to watch a group of children between the ages of 1 and 4 and see what you notice about the way they interact with each other and the adults around them. What might they be noticing and discovering about relationships?   Related Resource: To read the Pathway to the Future CEHD Connect magazine article, click here.